During the final competition of the individual all-around gymnastics (won by Gabby Douglas) I noticed a photographer (if memory doesn't fail me, he was placed behind the russian team) with a very large and "strange looking" camera.

Did anybody else see him? What camera was it? Was it simply a large format? Was it an old bellow camera? From what I cannot remember it did seem relatively old but maybe large or medium format camera are like that and I simply cannot recognize one :-)

I have searched on youtube but obviously all the focus is on the performances of the athletes and not on all the great camera gear that was floating around the venues, can you believe that? ;-)

Ps: the reference to old bellow camera is of course related to this other question of mine.

Some people had stereo/ 3D camera equipment, which may be what you saw.
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Russell McMahonAug 29 '12 at 14:05

I am sure that he inserted and removed slides from the side of the camera : if memory serves me from his right side (so it was on the left of the tv screen).
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FrancescoAug 29 '12 at 14:06

Btw: great, there are 3d cameras around and all those youtube clips instead focus on gymnastics (which unfortunately I am not interested in, I just happened to watch the contest while working at home)... :-(
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FrancescoAug 29 '12 at 14:10

One little nit to pick: the Speed Graphic is a 4x5 sheet film camera, not medium format. You can use a medium format roll film holder with the Graflex back, but the "real deal" is to use a 6-sheet Grafmatic holder.
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user2719Aug 29 '12 at 20:04

The article talks about a single system but seems to also include footage without any real discussion of a robotic camera which appears far closer to what you described. This appears to be a 35mm DSLR (probably 5D MkIII well encased in robot armour -

thanks for the pic but the camera was being operated on a tripod and it definitely didn't have such a regular looking lens. At first sight it really appeared to my eyes as a black box like an old style camera...
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FrancescoAug 29 '12 at 14:36